


The Ways We Say: Hello

by Evitcani



Series: Drabbles and Prompts [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Some Office Sex, Some angst, each chapter is a drabble, prompt fills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 03:43:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 5,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13091700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evitcani/pseuds/Evitcani
Summary: A collection of drabbles centering around Brad Bradson and Taako.





	1. Welcome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little house.

There was a song pouring onto the snow from the little house on Moon Street. Snowflakes caught and twirled around the light from candles in the window and the notes thrown out the open backdoor. They didn’t dance so much as sway as if caught in the music like the rest of the world just outside their home.

Inside on an old recording that was never as clear as memories, Magnus laughed and whispered into the camera, “ _First dance time. You already look wasted, Taako._ ” Taako touched Brad’s cheek, the grey at his temples and Brad pulled him closer with an arm around his waist. 

“Gettin’ kinda handsy, Bradson,” Taako chastised with a laugh. 

“As if your hands weren’t already sliding past my belt at this point,” Brad snorted and hefted Taako just barely off his feet to swirl him around. He tripped over a rock hidden under the snow and nearly sent them both to the ground. They made a haphazard figure eight as they laughed and tried to recover gracefully from the stumble.

“This is _boring_. I thought you said Uncle Magnus smashed a table,” came a complaint from the doorway. 

They stopped swaying and turned, arms still around one another. “Give it a minute, sweetie,” Brad grinned. “He uses his hammer and everything.” 

Taako nodded vigorously at his side, a spectral mallet appearing in his hands and swinging it at the ground. It squeaked like a dog toy when it thumped against the rock Brad had tripped over. “If you don’t get back inside with those bare feet I’m gonna have to use this on you, bubala,” he crowed and chased both squealing children back inside. Brad laughed to himself and followed his family back into the warmth, closing the door behind him. 

A hoard of dogs barked below off-key caroling and a shout of, “But we’re early, sirs!” The snow settled into the messy footprints leading to the little home on Moon Street.


	2. Nice to See You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe one day I’ll publish my Bradko series Café Corners. For now, have this.

Of all the things Brad was, Taako hadn’t been expecting _nice_. Maybe polite – boringly so – but not his earnest effort to see everything from the ducks that’d nipped his fingers to the turning of the leaves as a genuine gesture. It was somewhat of a dizzy realization that hit him midway through their third lap around the park. He blew into his hands, starting to feel the early bite of autumn in the evening air. 

“It’s getting late. Do you want to go back?” Brad smiled up at him with a genuine crinkle to his eyes. A part of Taako was mad that he couldn’t help but smile back. 

Another part was glad for a reason to smile. 

Brad Bradson was – surprisingly – a dangerous man, Taako thought. He covered his smile with a yawn. “Yeah, sure whatever, my man. You’re payin’,” he winked, tossing the last crumbs of bread towards the ducklings in the pond. 

“I told you I would, Taako,” Brad laughed, watching the ducklings flock as if they were starving. 

“I know. Wanna make sure you’re not pullin’ a fast one on me,” Taako responded plainly, waving his hand as they started past the park’s gates. “Promise me free transportation then run at the last second.” 

“Maybe I’m waiting until we’re at the wagon station to flee into the night with your uncompensated time,” Brad teased and gestured towards the setting sun. He stopped in front of the station doors, reaching for his purse. The only reason they’d come to the park was because it was so near the station. It’d been a _quick stop to see the ducklings_ they’d spent most of the afternoon in. “Sadly, I do have to flee into the night. Thank you for coming out with me today, Taako. I hope you had as much fun as I did.” 

_Oh gods_ , Taako thought to himself as he took the offered coins, _he really, really means that._

Brad was _definitely_ something dangerous. Taako looked at his hand and put the coins in his pocket, leaning in close. “Do you have somewhere you need to be tonight?”

Hands hovering awkwardly in front of himself, Brad hesitated. “No, tomorrow morning, but tonight I’m going back to my inn,” he murmured, swallowing thickly. 

Taako did what he usually did when he faced something dangerous: He ran. 

“You want some company tonight, big guy?” 

Brad’s hands fell to Taako’s hips. “If you do.”

“I do,” Taako laughed, pecking Brad’s lips and letting himself be pulled towards the inn, hand in Brad’s back pocket.


	3. Welcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically this is Brad and Taako from the Monster AU (A Vampire and a Hunter Walk Into a Bar). Mentions of Brad/Taako/Kravitz/Brian but focused on Brad and Taako.

“So,” Taako started, sighing loudly and smiling at Brad. “Our husbands left us all alone.”

“Mhm,” Brad nodded, holding up two papers to compare them. He’d set up at Kravitz’s desk as soon as he’d arrived with something about how Kravitz had told him to not let Taako break any furniture. A text a few minutes later had confirmed as much. 

“We all got our tests back and haven’t been able to try the whole no condom thing yet,” Taako continued, waving his hands. 

“Mhm,” Brad answered automatically. 

Taako glared at the back of his head. “You are really not paying attention to me, big guy,” he sighed, rubbing his temples. 

“Mhm.”

They’d stayed how they’d been since they’d supposedly started _dating_. Dancing around each other, moving from one room to another so they weren’t ever alone enough to confront the edge of awkwardness. Taako was frankly tired of it. 

He sat on Kravitz’s desk, scattering Brad’s papers. “Hey—!” Brad protested, trying to chase the flutter. 

Taako grabbed his chin and forced him to look up. He spread his legs, resting his bare feet on either arm of the office chair. Brad’s eyes dropped to his bunched skirt, hands hovering awkwardly over Taako’s thighs. He flicked them back up to Taako, licking his lips. 

They needed to get over this already. Taako leaned in close, breathing against Brad’s lips. “Why did you agree to date me if you don’t even like me enough for an hour of conversation, Bradson?”

Brad closed his mouth and jerked his head away, letting his hands drop to Taako’s thighs. “I’m not—. I learned four years ago not to take dating you seriously,” he growled right in Taako’s face. Here it was. At least they’d both reached their breaking points. 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Taako snapped, leaning back. “I thought after the Christmas party—.”

“You thought what?” Brad followed Taako, not letting him get away. “We’d been flirting for _months_ and you honestly thought I was only doing it to fuck you in a bathroom?”

Taako snarled, baring his teeth. “If you wanted more, you would’ve called!” 

Brad pushed away from the desk and threw up his hands. He took a deep breath, HR mode on in an instant. “I can take a hint,” he said flatly, folding his hands and somehow looking down at Taako. “You didn’t have to humiliate me by giving me a fake number and some cheesy line to say to that poor old woman when I did call.”

Squinting, Taako jabbed Brad in the chest. “Fuck off, you sanctimonious sack of shit,” he snarled, jumping off the desk and stalking towards the door. “Don’t _ever_ try to deal me like that. Lie to yourself, but don’t you dare try to lie to me.”

Brad grabbed his wrist before he could get too far, anger gone. “What do you mean lie?” 

Taako twisted until Brad let go, staring at him with his mind churning. “Do you still have the number?” Guiltily, Brad handed fished his phone from his pocket and pulled up Taako’s number in his contacts. Taako took it, slapped a hand over his face and edited it. “The last number is a four, not a nine,” he mumbled. 

“Oh,” Brad murmured, blinking down at his phone. 

Taako collapsed against Brad’s side, groaning. “We’re idiots,” he shouted, muffled as it was against his arms. “Ugh!” He scratched at his scalp in exasperation. 

A typo. It didn’t matter who it’d come from. 

The sole reason they hadn’t really spoken to each other in four years. He peeked up at Brad who was still staring at his phone. There was probably a saying there about connection and opportunity and all the difference one number had made. He’d seen a world where things could have landed somewhere else and—. 

He would have been happy with Brad. 

Those days of common room and cafeteria laughter leading up to Brad untying the bow at his thigh had let that peek through. That Brad wouldn’t have been a fling. Lup had said, ‘ _You’re different. I like it._ ’ He’d thought _maybe_. 

Taako had waited on a call that never came to start the life he’d never have. 

He loved Kravitz. He would always love Kravitz, but Kravitz felt inevitable for him like—. Like how Brian felt inevitable for Brad. If the last number had been a four, they still would have met and something that was all the old and wise he’d gathered in his long life had no doubt of that. 

He blinked rapidly, feeling suddenly exhausted by every could have been. “I’m sorry I missed your call, Bradson,” he whispered. _I’m sorry we missed our chance._

Brad glanced down at him and pressed the call button. Taako fumbled for his phone to answer breathlessly, “Hello?”

“Hi.”


	4. How Do You Do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by Woven_Gulch’s [Irresistible](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11194377).

“Can I have this dance?” 

Taako had to laugh. Brad asked it with as much glittery bravado as he had years ago. “Mm, I dunno, homie,” he grinned, skeptical. He held out his hand, waving it. “I’m a married man, yanno.”

“Jealous husband?” Brad smiled and took Taako’s hand, pressing the ring to his lips. He slipped his other arm around Taako’s waist, swirling him onto the dancefloor as the music began to play. Irresistible once, but not with the touch of Brad’s magic then. 

“I dunno, yet. He’s a big guy, though, could probably knock your block off,” Taako snickered, arms around Brad’s neck as they twirled to their first song. 

Brad squared his shoulders, squinting down at Taako without his glasses. “I’m a big guy, too,” he said pointedly. “Not that it matters since we’re already dancing.” He flashed Taako a grin. “Get caught in the moment again, dear?”

Taako snorted and shook his head. They slowed, pressing their foreheads together. “It was always your song, my guy,” he murmured, hooking their pinkies together. “Guess it’s ‘ _my husband_ ’ now, huh?”


	5. Good Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit more of a mature/spicy chapter.

“Stay over,” Brad murmured against the shell of Taako’s ear. Taako’s hands slid up his chest, around his neck, under the collar of his shirt and between his shoulder blades.

“Yeah,” he whispered, hot against Brad’s lips before he took them again. Brad let his hands drop to Taako’s hips, trailing kisses across his jaw, down his neck. Tilting his head back, Taako made a soft noise and arched into his touch. “I’m not just gonna stay, Bradson,” he warned, pawing at the hem of Brad’s pants. “‘M gonna nail you to your bed.”

Brad laughed and leaned back, squeezing Taako’s ass with one hand. “I was being polite, but if you’re offering, Taako,” he grinned and swept Taako off his feet into the bedroom. He tossed him onto the bed and echoed his laughter.

“I for sure am offering, my man,” Taako assured him, tugging his sweater dress over his head and onto the floor.

Brad nodded approvingly and unbuttoned his shirt. “If I can walk in the morning, we’re going to need to do a performance review and brainstorm some new methods.”

Tittering, Taako kicked his socks off and spread out on the bed. “First critical point: Brad needs to take his pants off faster,” he smirked, purposefully fanning his hair across the pillows. 

Enticing. 

“We’re not reviewing me,” he protested, shrugging off his button-up. 

“Team effort, my guy,” Taako shot back, hand trailing down his chest. “‘M the hammer, you’re the nail.” 

Brad crossed his arms, rubbing his jaw and looking thoughtful. He held up two fingers. “Second critical point: The more unsexy things Taako says, the harder it is for Brad to take his pants off and not just leave the room,” he said seriously. He let his expression crack as Taako lost it. 

When Taako recovered, Brad let himself be pulled down into messy kisses, warm hands, easy laughter, inevitable love.


	6. Are You Okay?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of grief/death and funerals.

“Stay there. I’m coming to get you,” Taako insisted, flipping off the stone of farspeech. 

“I’m fi—,” Brad managed before the line was cut. 

He jerked a hand through his hair, checking through his supplies to make sure he had everything he needed. The bags had been packed since Brad had left. He’d been waiting for the opportunity to hit the skies on the flying broom he’d acquired from Merle some time ago. 

Brad had left with as little detail as he could. The town he was going to and something about a business trip no one else in HR was on. He’d done his best to trust Brad up to the point where Lucretia had sent an m-mail talking about the mandatory meeting she expected everyone to be at. 

Brad hadn’t been listed under ‘excused’. In fact, Lucretia seemed to have been expecting him to speak. Taako tied the ribbon under his chin to keep his hat on and kicked off the ground. He barreled through the open skies, looping and shouting in joy. 

Carefully, he glanced down at the compass he’d attached to his wrist and corrected his angle. The moon helped keep his path through the stars on track. His stone buzzed no less than three times in his pocket. 

Just give me another hour, Taako thought as he saw the mountain that meant he was close. 

He hadn’t heard Brad cry until that phone call. There was no way he could sit there and helplessly listen to Brad’s sobs. No, he was ready to go and he did. 

His feet touched the ground by the town’s sign. ‘Welcome to Blood Fogged Shoes’, the sign greeted cheerfully under the magic flame peppered above a bed of flowers. An orc turned his head, stone to his ear, staring forward with his free arm crossed. His face was hidden in the shadow, but Taako didn’t need the stone to ring in his pocket to know it was Brad. 

“Brad,” he called out, voice barely a whisper now that he could see Brad’s tear-stained cheeks catching in the blue flames from the sign. The hunched shadow painted in front of the little town. Lamps floated into the sky and a dirge rose from first few houses. Brad leaned back, throwing an arm over his face, his voice joining the many in a broken warble.

He kept the stone to his ear and Taako’s stone buzzed again. Taako took a few steps forward. He clutched his broom. “Babe,” he said more loudly. 

Brad’s attention snapped to him and the next thing Taako knew was his warm arms. He sobbed brokenly, incoherently, into Taako’s neck. Taako dropped his broom and wrapped his arms around Brad’s neck, tugging him to the ground. 

They sat in the flowerbed, Brad’s face buried in Taako’s stomach with his arms around his waist. Taako leaned over him, rubbing his shoulders and whispering nonsense. Brad sat up as the dirge swelled to encompass them. They both watched through the filter of flowers as a party of orcs carried a coffin out of the city. Behind them trailed the mourners, black robes sweeping the cobblestone path to the graveyard. 

Once they’d disappeared past the gates, Brad wiped his face and pulled Taako to his feet. “I-I’m sorry,” Taako whispered. “For coming—. For—,” he turned towards the graveyard. “For everything. I didn’t—. Know.”

“No,” Brad mumbled, enfolding Taako in another hug. “I don’t know why I thought it would be easier without you.” He tucked his face in Taako’s hair. 

They left behind the bed of flowers for the oppressively quiet bed in Brad’s childhood home. On the walls were still peeling band posters that had been some time bleached by the sun. They curled next to each other, neither bothering with taking off their clothes, feet hanging off the side of the bed with their shoes still on. 

“She was alone,” Brad whispered, trying to keep the tears from bubbling to his lips. “In the garden. Hand still outstretched like she was feeding the birds. She loved to feed the birds. I always brought her—. I had a bag of birdseed under my—. It doesn’t matter.”

“No,” Taako demurred, brushing the tears back from his face. “Tell me.”

And he did. Softly, mumbling about birds. Then smiling about PTA meetings. Then both of them laughing and crying about a rock band poster Brad brought from the hallway as the morning sun tried to get through the curtains. He tapped a finger on her as if Taako needed him to tell which one was his mother. 

“Can you believe my dad was a groupie?” He laughed, grinning down at the glossy poster. He stopped suddenly, hands still and quiet. “I can’t believe she’s gone.” Taako put a hand over his, thumping his head on Brad’s shoulder. Brad took deep, ragged breaths. “Do you think you could make that cake again? M-my cousins are coming and I—.” He stopped, laughing hollowly. 

“Yeah, of course, babe,” Taako murmured.


	7. It's Good to See You Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako makes something for Brad.

The week had been exhausting. Taako had watched it wearing Brad down to his raw nerves. Humming over papers with his glasses still on when it was far past time for work to have ended. Stealing said glasses hadn’t earned him the playful or regular ire he’d expected. 

No, Brad had just held out his hand and said, very softly, “Taako, please.” He had looked tired. 

Taako squinted through word-tinted glasses, sprawled across their couch and waiting. He grinned down at the book, no longer surprised at how sexy even magically translated orcish sounded. “Get some, Woggha,” Taako laughed, too tired to give himself another round, but wishing he wasn’t. 

He nearly jumped out of his skin when someone snatch the glasses off his face. Tilting his head back, he grinned up at a very flustered orc. Brad waved the glasses around, speechless. 

Taako grabbed them and put them on primly. “Can’t believe you’ve been holding out all the contents of this literature from me, bubala,” he teased, tapping the front of the book.

“W-Woggha and Xoroku’s romance is a masterpiece in Orcish literature, Taako, “ he protested, composing himself. He twisted and straightened his tie, rubbing an eye with the palm of one hand. Drained again, with a stack of papers under his arm. 

“‘S hot, too,” Taako grinned, leaning up far enough to kiss Brad on the chin. “But maybe I missed some of the nuance,” he prodded, running a finger down the spine. The best part of reading six of these books had been Brad’s off-handed notes in the margins and the sweet phrases important enough to him that he’d highlighted it. He popped the book open and pointed to one of the highlighted phrases, “Why ‘gooey cake’?”

Brad laughed and sat next to him, taking the book from his hands like it was precious. “Pryanichek, it’s not the same in Common. It’s the softest word in Orcish,” he explained, tracing the words with a small smile. “Besides it’s wonderful. Who wouldn’t want to be as good as honey cakes? Well, they’re ginger, but I didn’t have gingerbread until after college.”

“Oh? You like honey cakes?” Taako tried to look casual. 

Brad shut the book and set it on top of the others. “My grandpa used to make it like it was nobody’s business,” he laughed, tapping the gold lettering. “Gave me the recipe, but we both know how well that turned out.” 

Taako knew all this, but pretended to be surprised. “Yanno, I stole these stupid glasses from Agnes. Came across a recipe book on your shelves,” he lied smoothly, standing up and putting a hand on the fridge door. 

Brad blinked, twisting around towards him with big eyes. “Taako, you didn’t,” he mumbled. 

Taako wasn’t honestly sure if it was a good thing or not. He opened the fridge and pulled out the layers and layers of cake he’d been up since early making. The one Brad had mentioned in passing, drunk off wine in their living room. 

It was the fourth time he’d tried to make it, but this one _had_ to be good. 

Brad covered his face and stood slowly. Taako swallowed, suddenly scared he’d just made Brad’s bad week even worse. He set the cake on the counter and stubbornly cut out a slice. 

It was perfect. 

Brad hugged him around the middle from behind and stood there quietly, head on his shoulder. “Thank you,” he whispered. 

Taako turned around in his arms and hugged him back, kissing his temple. “Don’t get all mushy. Pure act of chance, my guy,” he grumbled.

Brad laughed and hugged him tighter. He knew, but he didn’t do anything except smile into their kiss.


	8. Good Afternoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has the office sex. Okay bye!

The day had been busy with meeting after meeting. At a place like the Bureau, there was no end of reasons why someone would need to be called into HR. It was exhausting to tell someone, for the fifth time, that they couldn’t practice fire magic near the flammable research labs. The door closed shut and Brad rubbed his face, feeling the ache in his cheeks from smiling. 

He looked up at the sound of the door opening in time to see Taako bat a pile of paperwork onto the floor. “You asked to see me?” Taako was attempting sultry, but Brad wasn’t sure he had the patience with, surely, another meeting about to start. 

Sighing, Brad reached down to pick up the papers. “No. Taako, could you come back another -?” 

His eyes caught Taako’s smirk before the rest of the outfit. A little black skirt toeing the line of acceptable office wear with a button-up ruffled at the neck. “What was that?” Taako grinned, playing with the hem of the skirt. “You really want me to be anywhere except bent over your desk?” Brad took a deep breath through his nose and fumbled with his drawer, pulling out his planner. 

He’d given himself an hour of lunch. 

Taako took the schedule from his hands, snapped it shut, and shoved it in the drawer. “Don’t have much time until the next meeting, bubala,” he announced. He slid over the desk and slipped into Brad’s lap, bumping the drawer close with his thighs. Brad shoved the skirt up to Taako’s hips, almost ripping it along the way. 

“Fuck, fuck, calm yourself, my man,” Taako hissed against his lips, hands fumbling for the zip on the side. “I’m playin’ bad secretary, not gonna actually pay for this skirt.” He shoved the tags back into the hem and shot Brad a glare. 

Brad covered his mouth to hold back a laugh. “Wait, this is about the secretary thing? Aw, Taako, that’s -.” 

“‘Bout to blow it,” Taako warned, finally getting the zipper down. 

Brad closed his mouth and drew a zipper across his lips with a hand over his heart, silently shaking with laughter. He earned a hum of approval from Taako and picked him up easily, carefully setting him on his back on the desk. Taako started to roll over, but Brad stopped him by grabbing his leg and kissing the inside of Taako’s stocking covered knee. 

He took the hint and wrapped his legs around Brad’s waist while Brad undid his fly. He leaned over Taako, kissing him roughly, pulling gasps and moans as he untucked the button up. His cold hands under the thin button up garnered another flurry of gasps. They both moaned when Brad wrapped a hand around their cocks, his fingers dipping between Taako’s cheeks to find him ready and waiting. 

“Didn’t know how much time you’d get,” Taako panted, rocking his hips into Brad’s hands. 

“That was very -,” Brad stopped at a moan, “- _considerate_ ,” he groaned, letting go again to pull Taako’s face close to his. “Thank you,” he breathed over Taako’s lips. The thrust was hard enough to make Taako and the desk groan. He was tight, even with the prep, and Brad gave him a minute to adjust to his size. Taako threw his head back, arching and squirming under the kisses Brad was bruising along his collarbone. 

“Good,” Taako gasped, reaching up to pull a pen out of his hair and toss it aside. “You are the _big_ boss,” he teased between moans. 

The desk creaked rhythmically as Brad picked up the pace, Taako huffing a moan on every other thrust. His hands fluttered over Brad’s hair and shoulders, staying in constant motion. Brad panted into Taako’s ear, sucking the tip into his mouth. Taako was needy and hot, only driving Brad to fuck him harder, to pull every mewl from his winsome mouth. 

“Harder,” Taako demanded, hips meeting Brad’s thrusts. There was a clatter behind him and Brad was startled enough that he stopped moving and turned. Taako slapped at his arms lightly, legs tightening around Brad’s middle. “Don’t st- it was my heel! Don’t stop,” he moaned, breathing heavy. “Gods, _more_.” 

Brad watched Taako falling apart for a few more moments before he started moving again. He kissed the hollow of his neck, then captured his mouth. Taako’s ear twitched when he ran his finger over it, the tweak on the end enough to send Taako spilling over the edge, digging crescents into Brad’s shoulder blades with a shout. 

Brad kept the pace through Taako’s orgasm, but began to pull out when he bit his lip from the oversensitivity. “Inside,” Taako rasped, squeezing Brad around the middle. From seemingly nowhere, Taako pressed a plug into his hand with a weak laugh. “Gonna be waitin’ for you after work.” Brad laughed, too, against Taako’s neck, doing his best to finish quickly as Taako gasped and panted, moaning encouragingly into his ear until he came hard with a muted cry, thrusting through the long orgasm. 

Taako seemed to tolerate it, kissing him through the full minutes it took for Brad to finally collapse against him. He pet Brad’s hair until he pulled out and pushed the plug in his place. There was only a moment for Brad to appreciate a satisfied elf sprawled across his desk, cum dripping from his thighs to the floor. He was missing one heel, the other barely clinging to his stockinged toes. 

Taako waved his wand, magic wiping away the mess. He stood up, straightening his skirt, button-up and hair until he looked like he had the moment he walked into Brad’s office. Pressing a kiss to his cheek and something into his hand, Taako murmured, “How late are you to your meeting?” He stepped back with a grin. 

“Oh, very,” Brad lied smoothly, only to see Taako’s self-satisfied smile. He looked down at the remote Taako had slipped into his hand and hit the power button curiously. 

Taako covered his mouth and wobbled, supporting himself on the desk. “Gimme an hour to get home, big guy,” he hissed, shoving off what little paperwork was left on the desk out of spite and panting. 

Brad hesitated over the power button until Taako raised his wand. He turned it off with a cheery smile and put an arm around Taako’s waist, helping him regain his balance. Swatting at him, Taako managed to wiggle free, but not before Brad smooched the side of his face. 

“You’re awful,” Taako shouted as he stormed out of the office. 

“Love you, too, honey! See you at home,” Brad called after him, picking up the pieces of his desk. He went off to grab lunch, hardly waiting a half an hour to play with the dials and settings on the remote. 

The meetings the rest of the day went much more smoothly as he toyed with the remote idly. He was unflappable when the slightest frustration could have him cranking up the dial, imagining what result was moaning and spilling across his bedsheets at home. The longer he worked, the more he’d be wanted at home. At least, that’s what Brad hoped. 

It certainly ensured a naked elf tackled him into a kiss the minute he walked through the door.


	9. Long Time No See, Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An AU I never quite got around to following through on.

The first time he saw Taako was in a bar before the start of the wars. Already leaning into someone else's space with a laugh that said all he needed to know not to set his eyes on him. Still, he had anyway, hadn’t he? He got into his first and last bar fight trying to impress him. 

The only thing he’d impressed was the ground with his face. 

Taako had flashed him a grin on his way out the door, stopping long enough to pick up Brad’s cracked glasses. “Don’t get yourself killed over stupid shit, handsome,” he’d snorted and shoved his - fixed - glasses back on his face. “You won’t get a second chance to buy me a drink if you die, huh?” He winked and then he was gone. 

It’d been the last night he’d considered himself young. The stupid bar fight that had saved his life. His friends had marched off while he’d laid in the medical tents with a broken arm. 

The ones that came back didn’t come back the same. 

Like that, his kingdom fell apart. The capital a glass plate that had once been his home. He drifted until he forgot why he was drifting. He forgot where he’d come from, who his parents were. Everything.

A man with nothing to lose finds ways to lose things he thought he didn’t have. That was exactly what he did. He became a mercenary and drank and choked on the empty hole in his chest. 

Until he found the Bureau. 

Until he knew what he’d lost.

Until he he had a home.

He had clutched his bracer and cried great sobs as he remembered his family after six years of nothing. Lucretia rubbed his back and sat next to him, never once wavering in the face of his grief. She’d been the one who had taken it from him, from more than him, but she didn’t flinch from it. They both knew the relics would have borne greater losses than his memories.

Brad had been a casualty. 

Then, he’d been in charge of Humanoid Resources. It was a fresh start, a way to have the normal he hadn’t known he could before. 

And there across the bonfire, Taako shot him a smile. Brad, all at once, remembered being young and tripped over his own feet, sprawling across the ground. 

“Hah,” Taako laughed, slapping a hand on the log. 

As impressive as he’d been then. Brad fixed his glasses, looking up at Taako from the mud.


	10. Got This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why him?

Next to all the things he’d never figure out, Brad wouldn’t understand why he got this. The sun slowly creeping across the bed sheets or the air that smelled like syrup. The plates not far from their motel bed or the hand still tucked away in his. The eyelashes brushing freckled cheeks on the same pillow as his or the lipstick stain he’d left on the white cotton while he slept that matched the lipstick on Taako’s mouth. 

A flutter of giddy joy settled in his stomach. Impulsively, he leaned forward and kissed Taako on the nose before he rolled out of bed. He stretched, grinning at the curtained windows. Taako huffed behind him, groaning as he started to stir. 

“Tell the sun to be more quiet,” Taako mumbled incoherently, rolling over. 

Brad laughed, covering his mouth to muffle the sound. “Even the sun wants to sing on a good day like this, Taako,” he announced, sweeping up the plates into a more coherent pile and scraping out the leftover waffles into the bin. He hummed and checked their clothes. After a night of hanging by the fire, they’d finally dried. He put his own and folded Taako’s neatly on the foot of the bed. 

“ _And the next time I realized I was breathing in the life was the first time I saw your face_ ,” Brad sang as he gathered the plates and started out the door. “ _I wanted you, but I don’t know if I was brave enough to say._ ” He hummed as he came to the desk, dropping off the plates and collecting a few things from the breakfast.


	11. Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has implied Taako/Kravitz/Brad Bradson but felt neater here than anywhere else.

The snow was coming down heavily. Taako sighed and sat his mug aside. “I should probably go,” he murmured, standing up reluctantly. 

Sighing, Brad started to shrug out of Taako’s oversized knitted jacket. Not oversized on Brad of course. It was still damp from their romp in the snow. “Don’t forget your jacket,” he warned. 

Taako waved his hand and grabbed the edges, pulling it back on Brad properly. “What are you, my mom?” He snorted and brushed a lock of Brad’s hair back. “It’s a short walk and I’m not goin’ in a wet jacket that smells like your sweat, bubala,” he demurred, turning away as Brad raised a hand. 

“You don’t have to go.”

He stopped in the doorway, watching the snow through the window. “You were the one who didn’t want me,” he hissed. Taako couldn’t help it, couldn’t help biting back at the hand being offered to him. “Kravitz is going to be home soon.”

“Tell him to come here.”

Brad’s voice was even, soft. Taako swallowed and half-turned to see him out of the corner of his eye. “I’ll stay if he wants to, Brad, but—. You can’t tell us to stay and decide you don’t mean it. Kravitz is all sappy and he likes you and—. I’m not big on promises and shit, but to love and to protect—,” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Hurt me? Whatever. Hurt him?” Turning fully, Taako stared Brad down. “Hurt him and that’s it. You won’t exist to me anymore.” He crossed his arms, chin high. “Do you still want me to call him?”

Brad folded his hands in his lap. He closed his eyes and pulled the jacket closer. “Yes,” he whispered so softly Taako barely heard him. 

A soft breath. A quiet call. A long awaited hug.

**Author's Note:**

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